Negarin is a MScN graduate in the field of neonatal
intensive care nursing from Tehran University of Medical Sciences. During her
master education, she gained the knowledge and necessary skills to take care of
premature and critically ill neonates.

Negarin has worked as a NICU nurse, and now is a faculty
member at Faculty of Nursing, Golestan University of Medical Sciences. Over her
working years, she managed to publish several NICU related articles and 6 books
about neonates. She also received the "On Top" (Healthy and Sick
Newborn Course) Certificate from the World Health Organization provided by India,
and did numerous presentations and lectures.

Negarin’s passion is to help infants and their families.
She trains nurses in the NICU and her goal is to improve nurses’ capabilities to
better help families especially young parents in the NICU. Using HUG techniques
with families, she found parents seemed less stressed, more content with their
parental role, and more involved with their baby’s care.

Negarin's Story:

Maryam was born at 38 weeks and is
hospitalized in the NICU because of TTN (Transient Tachypnea of Newborn). She
has had four days of oxygen support and is breastfeeding. Mother’s milk is
enough, and the baby has a good latch and sucking pattern. Mother seems
satisfied. But the mother
says that my baby sleeps a lot of time during the day, is that natural? How
long do the babies sleep during the day?I'm worried that my baby sleeps too much and I’m
scared this could reduce my baby`s intelligence quotient in future.

At first I explained to the mother
as a nurse that babies sleep 16-20 hours a day and that`s natural. Babies have two types of sleeping, REM and Non-REM,
that the meaning of REM sleep is a light sleep that includes symptoms of moving
eyes rapidly, body movement, irregular breathing, making noises, and partly
response to the drivers. In this kind of sleeping, Baby’s brain is
growing and learning.

REM sleep cares
are: Due to brief fussy or crying sounds
during this state, caregivers who are not aware that these sounds normallyoccur
may try to feed infants before they are ready to eat. Whereas the purpose
of Non-REM sleeping is deep sleep that the infant doesn`t have any eyes or body
movements and the breathing pattern is calm and regular and they are highly
resistant to environmental drivers, that means they won`t wake up easily.

Non-REM
sleep cares are:Caregivers (Mother or Nurses) trying to feed an
infant who is in quiet sleep will probably find the experience frustrating. The
infant will be unresponsive. Feeding will be a more pleasant experience if
nurses and parents respect the infant’s cycles and needs by waiting until the
infant moves to a higher, more responsive state. Even if caregivers use
disturbing stimuli, chances are the infant will arouse only briefly, then

become unresponsive as he or she returns to quiet sleep.

Also, I explained newborn’s erratic behavior can be
confusing to mother, especially first-timers. But, we can learn how to “read”
your baby’s zones – and then help the infant move to the best zone for eating,
sleeping, or playing. Newborn zones are the states that all babies move through
between deep sleep and out-of-control crying. The three zones are the Resting
Zone (the sleeping baby), the Ready Zone (the baby who’s ready to eat or play)
and the Rebooting Zone (the fussy or crying baby.) Because new babies have
underdeveloped neurological systems, they cycle through these zones many times
each day, and even within a single hour, so that one minute your infant might
seem perfectly happy listening to you coo, and the next he’s red-faced and
screaming. With HUG techniques and strategies many things are predictable (and
possible)! Now I’m convinced that I can have a better, more friendly and
supportive relationship with young parents.

Thank you, HUG

We have Maryam Mozafarinia to thank for bringing HUG Your Baby to Iran. As part of her Masters in Nursing, Maryam translated the HUG Your Baby DVD and resources into Farsi and became the first Iranian Certified HUG Teacher. In addition, she completed important research about using The HUG in a NICU setting. We are delighted to be reaching out to colleagues around the world!

"I want to be a good mom!"

Issues of Confidentiality

Specific names and circumstances in this blog are fictional. .

Jan Tedder, BSN, FNP, IBCLC

Jan Tedder, BSN, IBCLC, Family Nurse Practitioner

Jan has worked in a primary care setting with babies and their families for thirty years. A graduate of UNC Charolotte and Chapel Hill, she has lectured at both national and international conferences. She has been honored as the NC Maternal Child Health Nurse of the Year. Her website, DVD, and online training are winners of the 2007 and 2009 National Health and WWW Awards.